


The Lines of the Note You Left

by Hipsterpotomu5



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Crying, I Made Myself Cry, Sad, Yikes, like really its sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 08:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9810692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hipsterpotomu5/pseuds/Hipsterpotomu5
Summary: Lena finally has a break from fighting Talon all over the globe, and she's come home to surprise Emily. Things don't go exactly as planned...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Song for this fic is Our Apartment by Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties

Lena wore a smile on her face and had a skip in her step as she walked through King’s Row. It had been too long since she’d been home, since she’d seen Emily. It was Thursday, Emily’s day off. And just like any other Thursday, Em would be curled up on the couch, a nice cup of tea in hand, just a touch of lemon and a big glob of honey. Watching any cooking show she could find. Horrible cook, she was, so she took great pleasure in watching others cook. 

Lena hadn’t told her that she was coming back, it’d all lined up perfect so that she could surprise Em on her day off. She stopped by plenty of shops in the morning, and found the most adorable sweater that she knew Em would just love, as well as a box of her favorite chocolates. 

Lena smiled as she passed the coffee spot they frequented. Lots of good memories there, though it had been a while. It’d been almost three weeks since she’d been home. A month and a half since she’d been home longer than two days. Em sounded worn down over the phone, seemed down on the video calls. Lena understood. The distance took a toll on her too. But now she had a few days. Widow said she had no missions until a week from tomorrow. Lena still didn’t understand why Widow would tell her where she was going. Lena would find her, they’d fight. Sometimes she stopped Widow from getting her target. 

Sometimes she didn’t.

It seemed not to matter to Widow. She acted as though it was just a big game. Perhaps she was being played right now, and Widow was off killing someone real important. Lena shook her head. No, in two months Widow had always been true to her word. And that meant this week wasn’t about Widow. It was about Emily. She needn’t worry about the purple assassin. 

She was at her building. She took a deep breath, her smile widened, and she started up the stairs, up to the fourth floor, apartment 4103, or home, as she knew it. She grabbed the doorknob, twisted her wrist, frowned. It was locked. “Odd,” she muttered to herself. Em never locked the door while she was home. She balanced the sweater box and chocolates in one hand while she fished her keys from her rucksack. She grinned as the lock clicked open, and she opened the door, pushing into the apartment in a hurry. “Em,” she called out, “I’m…” Her voice trailed off as she saw the living room. The first thing she noticed was the mantle over the little fake fireplace. Between pictures of Lena’s Overwatch induction ceremony was an empty spot, where the photo of Em’s parents used to be. And where was the shot of Em’s graduation?

She moved into the room, letting the door close behind her. Em was not on the couch, curled up under her blanket. Instead, it was folded neatly on the arm. She  _ never  _ folded it. All over the room, photos were missing. Photos of Em, photos of them together, the picture of Em’s old dog from when she was growing up. “Em?” she called out, worry clear in her voice. She dropped the sweater box and the chocolate. Had she gone back in time, before she was dating Emily? She’d had the apartment for a couple of years before Em moved in. Was her chronal accelerator malfunctioning? She reached into her pocket with a shaky hand to grab her phone, to check the date. As she pulled it from her pocket, a tremor shook her arm and the phone clattered to the floor. 

Cursing, she bent down to grab it and as she did, the display lit up, and the date and time were displayed for her to view. A small weight lifted from her chest, though she didn’t feel convinced. She needed more proof. She leaned on the wall as her shaky fingers managed to place a call to the watchpoint. “Tracer,” came Athena’s voice. “What can I do for you?” 

Lena breathed a small sigh. She was in a time where she was Tracer. “I just need the date.” 

“Today is Thursday, August 17th, 2080.” Lena exhaled a breath she did not realize she’d held. “Will that be all, Tracer?”

“Yes. Goodbye, Athena.” She hung up. Her hands still shook, but it was a relief to know that she was still in the present. But Em was still missing. Lena moved to the bedroom, pushing open the door. Her breath caught in her throat. The bed was covered with bland, boring gray sheets. Sheets that hadn’t seen been out of the closet since Emily moved in. Lena moved quickly to Em’s closet, opening the door slowly, scared, like she knew a monster was going to jump out at her. 

It was empty. 

All of Em’s things were gone. Lena sprinted to the kitchen, no, blinked there. It had to be there. It would be sitting on the back right burner like it always was. Her tea kettle. If a tornado came through the apartment it wouldn’t budge. But no. The back right burner stared at her, and she stared back, in shocked silence. 

The tea kettle was gone.

Em was gone. 

A sob escaped her throat, sudden and just as unnerving as the absence of Emily and her kettle. She turned to sit at the kitchen table when she saw it. A note on the fridge door, held on by a magnet with a little picture on it. She walked over, pulling the note out from under the magnet, though keeping her attention focused on the picture. It was of them, right before Lena left for a few months at the Swiss headquarters. Em still had to work, so she couldn’t come with Lena. As Lena was about to get on the plane, Em’s mom pulled out a camera and snapped the photo. Lena could still remember it like it was yesterday. Em turned to her, and grasped her in a tight hug, and whispered in Lena’s ear, “Come back to me soon.” 

And Lena hugged her back, and said back, “I will, love, in no time at all.” They pulled back enough to kiss, holding on to each other as long as possible. Then Lena got on the plane. 

A tear falling on her hand brought Lena out of her memories. More were following the first’s path, collecting on her chin. She sunk into one of the kitchen chairs, placing the note on the table in front of her, and began to read.

 

_ Lena, _

_ This is my third attempt to write this, and I fear that if I start over again I will never finish this letter. And I must write this.  _

~~_You’ve probably noticed that all my stuff is gone._ ~~

_~~You’ve probably seen by now I’m not here.~~ _

_ I left. _

_ I guess I should explain myself. It’s always been hard, with you traveling all over the world, to do good and save the world. You’re a hero. I’m just a financial advisor. The only thing I can save is people’s money, for retirement. We’re not cut from the same cloth, you and I. We were made for different things. That’s why I fell in love with you. We worked despite our differences. But you had one more  _ ~~_thing_ ~~ _ quality, that I’ve always lacked. Patience. Even when you were gone for months, you were always cheery on the phone, during our video calls. Maybe you were as lonely, as afraid as I was. But you never showed it. You could be away for weeks and still remain the same. I am not as strong as you.  _

_ The hours without you began to feel like days, days began to feel like years, each week a new eternity to go through without holding you in my arms.  _ ~~_Your calls, the little gifts and care packages you sent, weren’t enough. You weren’t enough._ ~~ _ I wasn’t strong enough.  _

_ Three weeks ago, I was weak. I found a girl online. We agreed to meet at a motel. I drove there, and I went to get out of my car, and I couldn’t. I sobbed. I threw up. I felt so disgusting. So horrible. That I had almost cheated on you. And I felt so weak. I didn’t go through with it, but just the fact that I harbored the thought...I couldn’t eat for a week.  _

_ I can’t do it, Lena. I can’t wait for you any more.  _

~~_I still love you._ ~~

~~_I still love you._ ~~

_ I still love you. But I’m weak. And a coward, and I can’t do this in person.  I couldn’t even do it over the phone. I can hardly write this letter. You’re amazing, Lena, and when I’m with you I’m the happiest girl on the planet. But I’m hardly ever with you. I need someone who’s always here for me. And you need someone who you can trust. Who won’t talk to other women. Who won’t go to a motel for sex while you’re away. _

_ I’m so sorry that I’m so weak. And that I’m a coward. And that I couldn’t even wait until I could see you again to tell you. I don’t know what you think of me now. But I hope you hate me. I hope you think badly of me and forget all about me, and move on, because that’s what’s best.  _

_ If I took anything that you want back, you can call my sister.  _

_ Please don’t come looking for me.  _ ~~_I don’t ever want to see you again._ ~~ _ It’s for the best. _

_ Emily _

 

Next to her name was a little heart, just like she always drew. There was a little frowny face inside this one. Lena wasn’t sure when she started sobbing. Maybe it was after she read her name at the top, because she knew what she was reading. She swiped the note from the table, letting it slowly float to the floor. She stood violently, knocking the chair over as she rose, and paced. She held her palms to her eyes, trying to stop the tears. It felt like using a bandaid to cover a bullet wound. Her hands moved up, running through her hair and grasping, pulling as she paced. _This can’t be happening._ _This_ CAN’T _be happening._ Her eyes fell to the note on the ground. _It’s already happened._

She leaned against the tall cabinet door across from the fridge, her legs to shaky to stand. She slid down, sitting with her face buried in her knees, her pants growing wet with tears. She brought her head up briefly to wipe her nose, and through tears she saw the magnet still sitting on the fridge door. She bolted up and snatched it from the door, turning it and pegging it at the wall. It broke through the drywall, leaving a sizeable hole. Lena clenched and unclenched her fists, staring at the hole for god knows how long. 

Quickly, and without thought, she moved into the living room, grabbing the blanket that was too neat on the arm of the couch and falling onto the cushions. Wrapping the blanket around herself and breathing in deeply, and the blanket still smelled like Emily, and there were more tears.

Sleep claimed her after her tears had dried up, leaving behind only dry sobs and ugly, desperate noises. She hoped, just before she was asleep, that she would wake and the note would be gone, and the pictures would be returned, and Emily would be looking down at her, smiling, tea in hand.

  
But deep down, she knew that would never happen again. 

**Author's Note:**

> so yea. i'm crying so we can all cry together. this is a one chapter fic, but there will be more exploring the aftermath of this breakup, both between Lena and Emily, and Lena and Widow. look out for that some time in the future. probably gunna be some Widowtracer stuff in between pharmercy before anything else with Em gets written. but i do have the events all thought out. more to come soon. and of course thank you for reading this, any feedback you have is greatly appreciated, even if you just want to yell at me for writing sad stuff
> 
> I also just want to throw this disclaimer out there. I don't hate Emily and im not salty about widowtracer not being canon. i dont want this to be interpreted that way. Emily just isnt with Lena in my headcanon. no salt involved :)


End file.
